FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — The Fulton County District Attorney’s Office said the state used surveillance video and witness testimony, including from the victim’s young son, to convict a man of murder in a robbery gone wrong.
Manvel Britton has been convicted of murdering Eddy Leonardo in Roswell in 2020.
Britton followed Leonardo from a DeKalb County bank to his check-cashing business, where he shot Leonardo in front of his 9-year-old son.
“I thank God that finally justice has been served,” Leonardo’s widow, Linsy Natareno-Arreaga, told Channel 2 Investigative Reporter Mark Winne through an interpreter.
According to Fulton County Senior Assistant District Attorney Stacey Burke and lead prosecutor Jeffrey Hawkins, Britton got out of the passenger seat of a Dodge Charger, approached Leonardo and demanded he drop the money he was carrying.
When Leonardo refused, Britton engaged him physically and then shot him once, as witnessed by Leonardo’s son.
A security guard at the bank is accused of tipped off a mutual friend that Leonardo had left with a large amount of cash, leading to Britton and the driver following him.
A photo taken by a good Samaritan before the getaway car fled helped police identify the vehicle and link Britton to the crime through fingerprints and cellphone records.
Britton, a five-time convicted felon, was sentenced to life without parole plus fifteen years.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis noted that Leonardo’s son smiled for the first time when Britton was found responsible for his father’s murder.
Britton’s case remains in post-trial litigation, with a motion for a new trial being part of the legal process.
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